Imposing Government Security Narrative on Civil Activities Regarding Mother Tongue Education
“Concerns about intensifying security pressures on minority rights activists and their families are serious”
Twenty-two years ago, UNESCO, the educational, scientific and cultural organization of the United Nations, designated February 21st, corresponding to the second of Esfand in the Persian calendar, as “International Mother Language Day.”
The history of this designation dates back to February 1952 and the struggle of the Bengali people to defend their mother tongue.
In 2008, the United Nations General Assembly designated that year as the “International Year of Languages.” At that time, the UNESCO director had asked governments to “include programs in their formal and informal education systems that ensure the coexistence and equal and productive development of various languages in each country.”
The issue of “mother tongue education” has always been one of the most controversial issues among executive and legislative authorities in Iran. An issue that becomes significant given the multitude and diversity of languages present in Iran.
Article 15 of Iran’s Constitution states: “The official language and script common to the Iranian people is Persian. Official documents, correspondence, texts, and school textbooks must be in this language and script; however, the use of local and ethnic languages in the press and group media and teaching their literature in schools, alongside Persian, is free.”
On the other hand, Iran has signed various international conventions including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on Civil, Political and Social Rights, and is obliged to implement their provisions. All these international treaties emphasize the issue of “teaching in mother tongue.” Iran is obliged to implement their provisions.
Although the executive authorities in the Islamic Republic have always claimed that in accordance with international treaties and in line with the country’s constitution, they have provided the possibility of mother tongue education and the protection of this right for various ethnic groups in Iran, the intensification of security measures against civil activists in the field of mother tongue education in Iran demonstrates another aspect of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s approach to the issue of “mother tongue education” in Iran.
The ruling system’s attempt to impose a “security” narrative on mother tongue education activities
Teaching mother tongue was one of Hassan Rouhani’s election promises. For the first time in the history of Iranian higher education, fields of Kurdish and Turkish literature and language were announced as university disciplines. In June 2016, Ali Younesi, former minister of intelligence and special advisor to Hassan Rouhani on ethnic and religious minorities, announced the issuance of a government order to the Ministry of Education and Training for teaching local Kurdish and Turkish languages in several Kurdish and Turkish-populated areas of Iran.
Despite the promises and some measures by the Islamic Republic’s executive authorities regarding the expansion of mother tongue education, human rights activists in Iran have a different position on government and legislative approaches in this regard.
Shahin Halali, a manager of the Azerbaijani Human Rights Organization in Iran, considers the fundamental issue in the ruling system’s approach to mother tongue education to be the attempt to instill and impose a “security” narrative regarding these measures. Shahin Halali told the Iran Human Rights Campaign: “The government has extensively promoted the notion over all these years that any civil activity in the field of education or preservation of mother tongues is equivalent to separatist activities, and in fact, it has launched a security narrative about civil activities and constantly fuels it.”
This human rights activist, referring to the history of security institutions in dealing with civil activists in the field of mother tongue education, said: “In the mid-1990s, student and civil activities focused on mother tongue education expanded in many Iranian universities, and ultimately after the reform government came to power, it was decided that two optional courses in Turkish language teaching would be offered in some Iranian universities such as Ardabil University. However, the security pressures in those years were such that teachers of these classes were constantly forced to cancel them, and on the other hand, security institutions would send undercover agents to the classes, who would later file charges against the students.” According to this human rights activist, despite about 70 student publications being published in local languages at universities in those years, after a short period, many student and civil activists were arrested and student publications were shut down. According to Shahin Halali, student activities in this field have almost disappeared.
This human rights activist, referring to the Islamic Republic government’s recent measures such as teaching Turkish and Kurdish at the undergraduate level in several universities across the country, considers these measures more of a “defensive shield” for officials to use in international forums, and in fact, measures like teaching Turkish and Kurdish do not help “preserve” mother tongues because a language taught at university ultimately is not a “native” and “local” language but is more academic in nature.
It was in August 2016 that “Hossein Tavakolli,” senior advisor to the national organization for measurement and education, announced the possibility for applicants to register for undergraduate studies in Turkish literature and language and Kurdish literature and language fields.
Shahin Halali believes that the output of these university programs has no relation to the preservation and respect for mother tongues. According to him, activities aimed at teaching mother tongues outside the governance system’s defined framework have been a permanent pretext for filing charges against civil activists.
Mr. Halali told the Iran Human Rights Campaign: “In none of the sentences issued against civil activists in the field of mother tongue education has it been mentioned that the reason for arrest was an attempt to teach mother tongue; rather, any activity in this field provides a pretext for charges such as gathering and action against national security.”
Shahin Halali considers the arrest of Behnam Sheikhi, Akbar Azad, Alireza Farshi, and Hamid Manafi on International Mother Language Day in 2013 and the involvement of information agencies in the course of judicial proceedings in this case as a clear example of the security-oriented view of the Islamic Republic authorities regarding the issue of education and support for the preservation of mother tongue.
Behnam Sheikhi, Akbar Azad, Alireza Farshi, and Hamid Manafi were arrested in March 2014 in Nasim Shahr, Tehran, and after some time were temporarily released on bail until the end of the trial. These four civil activists were sentenced in 2016 to long-term imprisonment and exile for what was described as “participating in forming an association to disturb the country’s security.”
In March 2017, Amnesty International called for the reversal of a 15-year prison sentence and 2-year exile for Alireza Farshi. Some reasons cited for issuing a sentence for Mr. Farshi included participation in private ceremonies commemorating International Mother Language Day in 2014 and 2015, contact with activists in various cities to organize International Mother Language Day commemorations, and sending a letter to UNESCO’s Secretary General in Tehran requesting assistance in obtaining permission to hold an International Mother Language Day commemoration in Tehran. Finally, in December 2019, Branch 54 of the Tehran Provincial Court of Appeals sentenced Behnam Sheikhi, Akbar Azad, Alireza Farshi, and Hamid Manafi to a total of 8 years of imprisonment and 8 years of exile.
According to Shahin Halali, the involvement of security institutions in such cases and their penetration of the judicial process makes the judicial proceedings of most civil activists in the field of mother tongue education unjust. On the other hand, the repeated filing of charges against civil activists with an emphasis on establishing a direct correlation between activities aimed at mother tongue education and separatism is a tactic used by security institutions so that their security-focused view of these activists prevails over a reading of their activities in pursuit of human rights objectives.
Efforts to preserve and teach mother tongue; a pretext for filing charges against civil activists
This year, coinciding with International Mother Language Day, a group of civil activists engaged in wall writing in the districts of Tabriz and Kaleibar located in East Azerbaijan. In these wall writings, phrases such as “Education in mother tongue is every person’s basic right,” “Where is my mother tongue,” “Life is impossible without language,” and “Happy Mother Language Day” were seen. Civil activists also installed symbolic stickers and multiple graffiti across Tabriz city, including graffiti and wall writings protesting the neglect of the right to mother tongue education. A number of Azerbaijani civil activists, on the eve of International Mother Language Day, distributed Turkish language educational books across the cities of Urmia, Ardabil, and Meshgin Shahr.
Shahin Halali, referring to the repeated filing of charges by security forces against civil activists, told the Human Rights Campaign: “Most activities in the field of mother tongue education are activities such as distributing story books in local languages in villages and small cities or talking with families about the importance of preserving mother tongue, and wall writing and graffiti are also part of activities that are more visible, but these same measures are considered by security forces as a record in the activists’ files and are used against them at the time of possible arrest.”
An example of filing charges against civil activists in the field of mother tongue education happened recently; just one day before “International Mother Language Day,” Alireza Farshi, in a phone call from prison to “Ahmadreza Haeri,” one of former political prisoners, informed him of a new file opened by the Ministry of Intelligence against him.
“Ahmadreza Haeri” wrote in a tweet thread: “Alireza Farshi called, talked about a new case being opened by the intelligence ministry. In an interrogation session held online, the interrogator mentioned that Alireza’s new file is fourteen volumes! The interrogator apparently printed all posts and comments from his Instagram page and included them as a report in the file.” Alireza Farshi is currently serving his two-year sentence in Tehran’s Evin Prison.
Amir Amini and Kianosh Aslani are two Turkish-speaking activists who were arrested by security forces on February 21, 2019, during street activities marking International Mother Language Day in Tehran. Amir Amini was sentenced to 7 years and 6 months of imprisonment and Kianosh Aslani to 5 years of imprisonment. Both are currently held in Evin Prison.
Shahin Halali, noting that in the coming years we will witness increased security pressures on minority rights activists in Iran, told the Iran Human Rights Campaign: “Our statistics show that the number of arrests of civil activists in a year might be close to 200 people, but the arrest of only a few of these individuals is publicized, one of the most important reasons being security pressures on the families of individuals to prevent reporting.”
Shahin Halali said that in many small towns and villages, we discover months after people’s release that they had been in detention, and when we investigate the reason, it turns out that the activists were threatened that any news reporting about their arrest would result in additional charges.
According to this human rights activist, all activities regarding minority rights have been transformed in the security-minded view of the government into a pretext for attributing them to “separatism” and “action against national security,” while the reality of activities related to the preservation and teaching of mother tongue has no security or political dimension whatsoever.
Shahin Halali believes that in the coming years, concerns about intensified security pressures on the families of minority rights activists have also increased, which reflects the government’s sensitivity about reporting news related to civil activists in this field.
According to Shahin Halali, one of the tools used by judicial and security institutions in handling the cases of activists is creating “delays” and “suspensions” in case proceedings, which itself brings countless difficulties for individuals.
Shahin Halali, referring to the suppression of civil activists in the field of teaching and preserving mother tongue in provinces such as Kurdistan and Sistan and Baluchestan, said: “The main activities in the field of mother tongue education in other provinces are also, like in Azerbaijan, focused on forms of activity such as distributing books in mother tongue and wall writing and peaceful gatherings under the pretext of the beginning of the academic year or International Mother Language Day, but activists in those areas also face charges such as forming an association to disturb the country’s security.”
In recent days, coinciding with International Mother Language Day, a number of civil activists in Sanandaj held a protest gathering in front of the city’s courthouse condemning the issuance of a 5-year prison sentence for Zahra Mohammadi, a Kurdish language teacher and activist in the field of mother tongue education.
Zahra Mohammadi was arrested in June 2019 following a raid by intelligence forces on her home and was initially sentenced to 10 years in prison for what was described as “forming a group and association for the purpose of disturbing national security.” Finally, in February of this year, the appeals court issued a 5-year prison sentence. Mrs. Mohammadi is one of the experienced activists in the field of mother tongue education in Kurdistan.
Previously, thirty-eight non-governmental organizations in Kurdistan had written to Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s president, asking him to reconsider the 10-year prison sentence for Zahra Mohammadi, a volunteer Kurdish language teacher.
The suppression of civil activists in the field of teaching and preserving mother tongue and the labeling of these activities as “security” and “political” by the government has resulted in the humanitarian dimensions and cultural importance of teaching and preserving mother tongue being overlooked.
In recent days, coinciding with International Mother Language Day, a video circulated on social networks in which Mohammadreza Shafiei Kadkani, professor of Persian language and literature, in one of his classes emphasizes that “local languages are the foundation of our culture” and stresses: “If we do not preserve local languages, we practically do not understand a significant part of our shared culture.”
Apart from the cultural dimensions and importance of preserving mother tongues in Iran, some statistics show that the lack of necessary educational infrastructure for teaching “mother tongue” or teaching “in mother tongue” has forced many students to drop out.
Previously, Poran Esmaili, CEO of the Comprehensive Yaran Nikookar Institute, which operates in the field of rural development and education in the Dashtiari region of Sistan and Baluchestan Province, in an interview, referring to a fundamental problem among many students in “bilingual” schools, said: “The children of this region have no familiarity with Persian speech and accent until they go to school, because they speak Baluchi at home and Iranian television is rarely watched. After entering first grade, these children must learn to read, write, and speak Persian. Learning Persian and studying in this language when children enter school becomes a general problem.”
According to this social activist: “These conditions cause students to be weak in reading, writing, and speaking Persian and to make little progress, entering subsequent educational grades in this condition. After some time, this usually leads these children to a dead end. That is, the child reaches a point where he or she is inclined to drop out of school due to the problem of bilingualism and the difficulties in understanding Persian-language materials, and the family, due to poverty, is willing, and as a result, the child drops out of school.”
Despite these and similar problems in other Iranian provinces, the approach of the country’s executive authorities to the importance and necessity of mother tongue education has not changed in recent years.
Source: Iran Human Rights Campaign
